The Little Emperors and Their Clothes

As a general rule, the Chinese don't spend money on things that other people can't see. Fancy cars take preference over home furnishings and expensive brand name clothing and accessories are a must. Having said that, their savings rate far surpasses ours.

Luxury goods retailers are zeroing in — with the little emperors, the nouveau riche and an estimated 320,000 millionaires. This communist country is now a country of consumers who want to flaunt what they have. It is estimated about 25 percent of the world's luxury goods over the next 20 years will be consumed in shops like these right here in China. Cartier plans to go from 16 to 25 stores by the end of year. Gucci opened a flagship store in Beijing that outsized its Hong Kong location. And Saks Fifth Avenue has secured a 350,000-square-foot location in Shanghai as the site of its first store in China opening in 2009.

The reference to the "little emperors" is well placed. With the one child policy, single children are spoiled by two sets of grandparents as well as the parents. Many children (I'll exclude a number of people in my office who don't fit this profile) are unaccustomed to sharing and incapable of working as part of a team.

It has become an acknowledged part of doing business in China among foreign investors and Chinese companies a like. The little emperors and empresses are coming through the system and they are difficult to train and tolerate in the work place. If they don't believe a particular task should fall within their job description, they aren't going to do it.